Hearing delayed again in sexual abuse case

A plea hearing for a Gilroy man charged with sexually abusing a
15-year-old female runaway who was living in his home has been
delayed a second time.
A plea hearing for a Gilroy man charged with sexually abusing a 15-year-old female runaway who was living in his home has been delayed a second time.

Jesse Arias, 52, was scheduled to enter a plea Tuesday but the hearing was pushed back approximately one month, said Amy Cornell, spokeswoman for the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.

Arias is now set to enter a plea 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 26 in the South County Courthouse in Morgan Hill, Cornell said.

The original plea hearing was scheduled for June 3, but was delayed until the June 28 appearance.

Arias has been charged on five counts – three for lewd acts on a child age 14 or 15, one for possession of matter depicting a person under 18 engaging in sexual conduct and one for distributing harmful matter to a minor.

Deputy District Attorney Stuart Scott said some evidence in the case amounts to “child pornography.”

Arias was taken into custody May 23 following a report that he invited a 20-year-old woman he met at a nearby bus stop to his house May 21 in the 200 block of Old Gilroy Street and raped her while she was “under the influence of an intoxicant,” according to the Gilroy Police Department.